Financial Misconceptions
by KitKatt0430
Summary: What was supposed to be a nice day out where Barry treated Len to a good time goes mostly okay, except for the part where Len keeps paying for everything. And Barry's pretty sure they need to discuss this before it winds up growing out of proportion from being bottled up. He's just... not sure how to phrase things without potentially offending his boyfriend.


Summary: What was supposed to be a nice day out where Barry treated Len to a good time goes mostly okay, except for the part where Len keeps paying for everything. And Barry's pretty sure they need to discuss this before it winds up growing out of proportion from being bottled up. He's just... not sure how to phrase things without potentially offending his boyfriend.

_**Financial Misconceptions**_

It's supposed to be Barry's turn to surprise Len with a romantic date.

The Legends apparently had a particularly hard fight back in the 1340s and Barry'd been trying for a while to be the one who treated Len to a nice date since usually Len was the one who paid for everything. So it seemed like the perfect time for Barry to take the day off - from work and being the Flash - and show Len a good time.

For the most part, Barry's plan went quite well. All the places he'd picked for them to go throughout the day brought a smile to Len's face and they had a lot of fun. Except...

Len kept paying for everything. There was only one thing Barry got to pay for that day and it was their coffee in the morning. And that was likely only because he got there before Len did and had the coffee waiting there by the time his boyfriend arrived.

Barry wasn't quite certain what was going on with Len because even though Barry'd made it clear he was the one who would be paying for this date, that it was his turn to treat Len... the other man went out of his way to ensure he paid before Barry could.

Which... was frustrating. If he knew why Len did it - if Len had a good reason for it - then Barry could accept that Len just had difficulty letting someone else pay for him or something like that. But Len practically made a game out of paying before Barry could and it just... it rankled a bit. Or a lot.

By the time they went back to Barry's apartment so that Barry could cook them a quiet dinner for two, he was perhaps a bit out of sorts. Not exactly fuming, but visibly annoyed for sure. And Len's expression had gone from amused to wary.

"Alright, Scarlet," Len said, breaking the silence while Barry gathered the ingredients for their dinner. "What'd I do wrong?"

Barry heaved a sigh as he started setting aside the chicken, peaches, onion, and chives. He wasn't sure how to phrase any of this, but they definitely needed to talk it out. If Barry kept this bottled up, he'd only explode over it later. "Len, you're usually the one who pays for things on our dates. Mostly, I don't mind. I like being treated to nice restaurants and feeling taken care of. Getting to feel cared for... even precious, I guess," Barry ducked his head, blushing. "I don't get a lot of that. Everyone else just expects me to be strong all the time, but you don't. And I like that. I like that I can be vulnerable with you and still feel safe."

"I can hear a 'but' coming," Len drawled, cheeks a little pink himself.

Much as Barry wanted to tease Len about blushing, Barry knew he had to keep going with this and he'd ruin the mood if he side tracked now. Maybe later, though...

"Yeah. There is. Because, much as I like all of that... sometimes I want to be the one who treats you to nice things. That's what today was supposed to be. And I'm glad that as far as cheering you up went, you went from stressed this morning to relaxed this afternoon. But I told you I had things planned out, that I was going to be paying for our date today. And you went out of your way to make sure that didn't happen. So I can't help but feel like I was trying to give you something nice and you went and stole it before I could give it to you. And that's..." Barry swallowed hard and ran a hand through his hair in frustration. "I'm upset over it, okay? I feel like I shouldn't be because we did have a nice day and now I'm ruining it. But that doesn't make me any less upset over this."

"I'm sorry," Len said quietly, his expression turning thoughtful. He settled down at the counter, frown on his face as he quietly tapped his fingers along the counter. "I've got a lot of money," he said after a short while. "Not all of its illegally gotten gains either, though I do appreciate you've never asked me where my money comes from. But... I've got this money and, as I guess you've noticed, I like being able to spend it on you. Because you're the best thing to happen to me, Barry and I..." now it was Len's turn to duck his head. "Anyway. I know a CSI's paycheck doesn't stretch very far and you spend a lot on groceries, so I... I don't want you to feel like you have to match me date for date or anything like that."

Barry felt something loosen in his chest and he wanted to laugh. He didn't, though; didn't want to put Len's hackles up and laughing after what Len'd just said would certainly do that. "Len, who do you think owns STAR Labs?"

Len's mouth opened to answer and then snapped shut. He gave Barry a narrow eyed gaze. "Ramon?" he finally asked, with the air of someone who knows they're about to be corrected.

"Certainly a lot of people assume that," Barry responded agreeably. "Cisco was EoWells' protege before he died and Cisco is in charge of running STAR Labs now. In part because he stuck around when Caitlin temporarily left for Mercury Labs and in part because Caitlin really did not want to be in charge of STAR Labs change in direction when she got back. But, no, Cisco doesn't own STAR Labs. More like he's... CEO."

"You own STAR Labs," Len guessed, but not really asking this time.

Barry nodded. "I own STAR Labs. Eobard left everything to me. STAR Labs, his investment portfolio, his house, a vacation home in LA... everything. I could quit my job at the CCPD and dedicate my time solely to being the Flash and never have to worry about working another paying job again in my life because the dividends from the investments alone more than cover my rather nice apartment, my bills, and my yearly grocery bill... which is, as you noted, rather ridiculous. Admittedly, I sold his house. And the vacation home, though I did enjoy a weekend there before I did so. And I gave a lot of his money to various charities. So I'm still a CSI not because I have to be, but because I enjoy the job."

"He left you everything," Len repeated, sounding floored.

"Yeah. I'd like to think that maybe he felt guilty? I don't know. He never could quite manage to untangle the people he got to know in this timeline from the people we were in the timeline he came from." Barry huffed and shook his head. "He hated the Flash. Utterly. But it felt like things were more complicated when it came to Barry Allen. Like he was fond of me, in his own weird way. So he left me all his earthly possessions and a video confession of killing my mother... but he also left me a message saying he knew me too well and even though he'd lost I would never truly be happy."

"Never truly be happy?" Len scoffed. "That's bullshit."

Barry grinned and came over closer to the counter, pecking Len on the lips. "He probably didn't foresee your influence on my life being so positive, that's for sure."

"Well, I was thinking more that he never understood that the bad things and good things in life aren't a zero sum game where one cancels out the other, but... I would definitely be interested in hearing more about how happy I make you." Len might've been leering, just a little.

They both laughed and, with the atmosphere sufficiently lightened, Barry returned to the original argument. "So, now that you know I don't need a sugar daddy?"

Len flushed a little. "The next time you want to be the one who pays for a date, I'll sit back and let you do exactly that."

"Thank you."

"I really am sorry."

"I know. You can make it up to me by telling me what an amazing cook I am when the peach salsa chicken and roasted potatoes are ready. You can help by making the guacamole." Barry beamed as Len immediately got up to find the avocados.

"There's another lesson to be learned here," Len muttered, more to himself than to Barry.

But the speedster asked anyway, "and that would be?"

"I need to do a much better job of researching. I was still your nemesis when Wells kicked the bucket; I should've known you were the one who inherited his fortune."

Rolling his eyes, Barry teased, "yes, sure, that's the lesson here. Certainly not asking your boyfriend if I'm comfortable discussing my financial situation and how much I can afford to budget towards dates or anything like that."

"I'm not going to live this down for a while, am I?"

"Nope. But I love you anyway." Barry smiled as Len gave him a heated look in return.


End file.
